Monday, December 16, 2013

Why I liked The Season Finale Of Homeland (SPOILER ALERT)

So last night was the finale of
Homeland: Season Three. Now I decided to write about this today because I
have been reading many mediocre reviews from my friends in my dear on-line
family. Critiques such as "Meh" or "It sucked" seemed
to be the sentiment. Now, these fine folks didn't qualify their opinions
so I am not sure what exactly garnered those ratings, so it will just have to
suffice that I tell you why I actually liked this finale:

Let's start by talking about Brody's journey: We meet him when he is a US
Marine who has 8 years of tortured, far-flung, captured POW existence under his
belt. Once "freed", he returns home to a normal that he no
longer recognizes. From there we see him struggle with an moral
dissonance - which team does he belong on? the West or the East? Which
team is the "right" team? We're not sure what he is thinking;
he is not really sure what he is thinking. Everybody is confused.
And the viewing audience loves it. Fast forward to the collateral damage
of his journey: his children. They are, in fact, the deciding vote. In
particular, his daughter Dana, who is his spitting image, turns out also to be
the mirror of his conscience - and a reminder of all that was once good about
him.

Okay, so by this point Brody has done some bad stuff and has tried to do even
some worse bad stuff. After a heart-wrenching conversation with Dana with
the soulful brown eyes, he decides he needs to vindicate himself to redeem the
family name. Off on a mission to Iran Brody goes, Marine-style.
Brody gets there, and despite the ever-changing circumstances, he manages to
complete his mission.

So where does this leave us? It leaves us with a
Marine-turned-Al-Quade-terrorist-who-masked-himself-as-a-United-States-Senator-who-then-simultaneously-became-an-enemy-of-the-state/CIA-Black-Ops-hero
who's probably still fighting a drug addiction. What is left to do
with this character, I ask you? Is he supposed to return to the
states and be a stay at home dad while Carrie continues to fight terrorism in
Turkey? No, he needed to die. There was no other recourse for Brody
other than to sacrifice himself on the altar of redemption. He knew
it. Carrie knew it. You know it.

2 comments:

I'm with you (maybe for different reasons). I don't know that I'll stick with Homeland for another season, but with Brody gone I'm more likely to. I say more Sol! More Quinn! Less Carrie. My worst fear is that Brody will come back like Dexter's dad and be her conscience in every episode. [ Happy Holidailies! ]

I had that thought, too. That he will make ghostly appearances - but I certainly hope not! And yes, more Quinn!! Based on the parking lot conversation, I think they are headed in that direction. Thanks for your feedback!